Cell Phones & Text messaging

[David Colebatch]

On Thursday 10 March 2005 19:40, Alan Cohen wrote:
> I've been using an alphanumeric pager for years. The source of most of
> the messages has always been computer systems that tell me when they're
> in trouble. These messages come via Internet (SNPP) and dialup (TAP) for
> cases when the trouble is Internet connectivity.
>
> I'm thinking about using a cellular phone and would need at least the
> same functionality. So I guess there are 3 questions:
>  (1)the phone
>  (2)the carrier
>  (3)the software (which I could write, I suppose) to make it all work.
>
> - I'd want to use SNPP/SMTP and TAP or something equivalent, ie:
> Internet with non-Internet fallback
> - One of the downsides heretofore is that the computer could know that
> its message had been sent, but couldn't know that its message had been
> received. Is "received confirmation" a possibility?
> - Any suggestions?

Don't overlook the option of hooking up an old Nokia to a server with a serial 
cable and running gnokii (http://www.gnokii.org/).  We use this setup back 
home to allow servers to send us SMS even when the network is down (Try doing 
that with an email-SMS gateway). 

You can also ask your server questions, by sending it an SMS and waiting for a 
response.  It's pretty cool, and I know Fido offer plans where you can get 
1000 SMS for $5 a month... that's only 1c a message.  Fido also don't charge 
for incoming SMS, or incomming calls (on most plans), which is the way it 
should be.

Regards,

David
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